Singapore based ONE Championship, a martial arts organization, has become Asia's largest sports media property and the Southeast Asian country helped it to rise as a martial arts powerhouse, said the company.
The CEO of ONE Championship Chatri Sityodtong, who launched it in the Lion City almost seven years ago on July 14 along with the former ESPN Star Sports senior executive Victor Cui, said the company owes to the support extended by Singapore. "I genuinely don't believe that ONE Championship would be where it is today if I had started it in any other country in Asia," he said.
Singapore's major companies such as DBS, Singtel, MediaCorp, and Singapore Airlines have partnerships with ONE Championship that helped the organization to herald further in its mission to organize sports events, he said.
In addition, the Singapore government also showed enthusiasm to develop ONE Championship, he said. Over the years, the Economic Development Board (EDB) and Singapore Exchange (SGX) have lent their effort to this sports body in varying capacities, he said.
Among the 4.2 billion people across Asia, over 2.2 billion people are on the same time zone and that has become a scope to expand in that region. So, the country's business ecosystem, technology and infrastructure helped ONE Championship to host many sports events in Asia.
Sityodtong said, "Without the full support of Singapore behind us, ONE Championship would not have had any chance to become a unicorn and the best part is that we are still only at the very beginning of our journey."
ONE Championship said it has nurtured local talents drawn from Singapore and other Southeast Asian nations. Former ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard Folayang, who grew up in the pristine hillside of Baguio City, Philippines, ONE Middleweight & Light Heavyweight World Champion Aung La N Sang, born in Mytkyina, Myanmar's Kachin state, ONE Women's Atomweight World Champion Angela Lee, the youngest world champion in martial arts history, from the Lion City are among the successful sports personalities, said ONE Championship in a press statement.
It said the recently appointed CFO Teh Hua Fung is the main source behind the launch of ONE Super App. His resume before ONE Championship includes bringing one of the most exciting motor racing sports, Formula One to Singapore, said the statement.
The ONE Super App helps people with Android or Apple mobile devices to watch all the martial arts events live on their devices, said the company, attributing the success to Singapore government's support to expand the martial arts in over seven years of its journey.
